Pepperdine University
#6 Stanford
Waves Set to Host the Cardinal this Weekend
2/21/2024 4:58:00 PM | Men's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. — The #11 Pepperdine men's volleyball team will continue Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play by hosting Stanford for a pair of matches in Malibu this weekend.
MATCH #14 — Friday (February 23) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #11 Pepperdine (9-4) vs. #6 Stanford (7-5) at 6 p.m. | ESPN+
MATCH #15 — Saturday (February 24) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #11 Pepperdine (9-4) vs. #6 Stanford (7-5) at 7 p.m. | ESPN+
COVERAGE — All home matches will stream on ESPN+ and have live scoring available. Links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.
UP NEXT — Next week, Pepperdine will travel to #16 CSUN on Wednesday (February 28) before making the trip to Concordia Irvine on Saturday (March 2).
TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home men's volleyball matches in 2024 will be available via e-ticket only at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com. Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.
Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early. Each match costs $13 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students.
PROMOTIONS — Friday's match will include a giveaway of replica jerseys to the first 50 students in attendance.
FOLLOW — Follow the Waves on Facebook and X, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram and TikTok, @peppmvb. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.
LAST WEEK — Pepperdine faced #4 UCLA twice last week, dropping both games, 3-0. On the road, UCLA took 25-20, 25-20 and 25-18 set scores. The Bruins had the edge throughout the match and led with 39 kills on a .292 clip to the Waves 30 kills with a .143 hitting percentage. UCLA also led 7-2 in aces, 31-27 in digs and 10-3 in blocks. Cole Ketrzynski led the Waves attack and posted 11 kills, with this having been his 10th match with double-figure kills.
The Waves met the Bruins again in Malibu three days later and put up a tough battle in the first set, but fell 30-28. UCLA then took the next two sets, 25-11 and 25-19 to win the match. The opposition led offensively with 40 kills on a .463 output, as well as 10 aces, compared to Pepperdine's 26 kills on a .138 clip with two aces. The two teams were close on the back line, with the Bruins 16 digs edging out the Waves' 14, but the Bruins led 8.5 to 3.5 in blocks. Akin Akinwumi led the attack with 16 kills on a .345 clip, hitting double digits for the fourth time this season.
SQUAD — The Waves have gone 9-4 to start the campaign this season and have won seven of those matches in straight sets. As a team, Pepperdine produces 12.07 kills on a .315 clip, while adding 11.40 assists, 1.42 aces, 8.74 digs and 2.54 blocks. The squad gives up only 9.93 kills on a .186 output on average, along with 1.19 aces, 7.60 digs and 2.00 blocks.
Cole Ketrzynski leads the attack output for the Waves with 3.43 kills/set and 127 total kills. Ethan Waston, Martin de Chavarria, and Andersen Fuller lead the squad at the net with 1.50, 1.43, 0.74 blocks/set respectively. De Chavarria has produced 53 blocks, with seven solo rejections. Ketrzynski also leads the team with 10 aces and 0.27 aces/set so far this season.
Tyler Stewart, Cole Rasic, and Ryan Barnett have amassed eight aces, while Andersen Fuller is next in line with seven. Trey Cole has marked a team-best 2.00 digs/set, tallying 80 digs this season. Tyler Stewart, Ryan Graves and Vladimir Kubr have each seen time in playmaking duties, having put up 8.60, 5.05 and 9.00 assists/set respectively.
OPPONENT — Stanford has gone 7-5 so far this season, and Pepperdine will be their first round of MPSF play. The Cardinal is on a five-game losing streak, after falling to #17 CSUN and #3 Hawaii and #7 UC Irvine twice each. On average, Stanford tallies 12.00 kills on a .277 clip, while their opponents mark 12.3 kills on a .289 output.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine is ranked #11 in the AVCA national poll this week. After three-consecutive weeks at #10, the squad had dropped to #12 last week, though a pair of wins against UCSB moved the Waves up once more. The Waves began the season at #13 and moved up each of the first two weeks of action.
In addition to the team ranking, the Waves have been making quite the splash on the team and individual stat rankings in this early season. The Waves rank second in the MPSF in opponent hitting percentage (.186), and third in digs (8.74), blocks (2.45) and assists (11.40). The squad is also top ten nationally in opponent hitting percentage and blocks.
Martin de Chavarria leads the MPSF and ranks second nationally with 1.43 blocks. Trey Cole also leads the league and ranks 15th nationally with 2.00 digs. Cole Ketrzynski ranks nationally in five separate categories, including 22nd with 4.05 points and 3.43 kills.
